


you were always the one that knew (side a)

by foxwatson



Series: ted's most excellent mixtape [1]
Category: Bill & Ted (Movies)
Genre: Kissing, M/M, Making Out, also, also i have to tag this, basically that's all we have here is gay mixtape feelings and kissing, because that tag is my personal favorite and uhhhh, gay mixtape shenanigans, hope everyone's ready for some very silly miscommunication angst, morons to lovers, so if you're here for that please enjoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxwatson/pseuds/foxwatson
Summary: Ted's been listening to a mixtape in his walkman for like a week, and he won't let Bill hear it. When it turns out it's full of love songs, Bill is most determined to figure out who Ted is crushing on - or why he wouldn't tell Bill about it.
Relationships: Ted "Theodore" Logan/Bill S. Preston Esq.
Series: ted's most excellent mixtape [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952329
Comments: 63
Kudos: 212





	you were always the one that knew (side a)

**Author's Note:**

> that's right folks i'm already back with another bill and ted fic so here it is!
> 
> title credit to david bowie's rock n' roll with me, which came into my home and ruined my life with how much it makes me think about bill and ted.
> 
> also: importantly, this kind of started because i made a playlist of ted's mixtape! so if you want to know all the songs, you can find that [here!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3pLSxqusvfsqvMlXgVn1pB?si=XDflGcRARs6Re1AD9QEMdQ)

It’s hard for Bill to remember the time in his life before he met Ted. He remembers a little - living in Colorado before his mom left and he and his dad had ended up in San Dimas. He had a couple of friends at school, other kids he kind of remembers by their first names and faces and not much else. All of it’s pretty blurry, though, and he really doesn’t feel like there’s much worth remembering.

The first day of second grade, he’d met Ted, his first real friend in San Dimas - and they’d been friends ever since.

More than that, when Bill really thinks about it, Ted’s basically the only person in his whole life that really listens to him, and he always has been. Whether they’re talking about music or stuff they read or something that happened in their rare times apart, Ted is a most attentive listener. He always gives Bill his full attention, or stops him to ask questions or asks him to slow down if he gets distracted. Bill tries to give his own back in return but basically, Bill doesn’t know what he’d do without Ted. He doesn’t even like to think about it, actually, because the whole concept is so entirely bogus.

Normally Bill wouldn’t even think about it like that. He’s never been worried before about any of that stuff, because he and Ted have just been he and Ted, exactly the same, since the second grade.

Lately though, since the princesses broke up with them, Ted has been acting most unusual.

It wasn’t, like, a bad breakup. Liz and Jo didn’t even ask to leave the band. They just felt like maybe they should see some more of the 20th century on their own terms, and Bill and Ted felt that was probably fair, and everybody seemed pretty chill at the time.

For the first week or so, Ted didn’t do anything weird. He was fine at practice, or while they were jamming at home. He was still bleary-eyed but oddly cheerful in the morning, and prone to asking Bill mumbled questions from the other side of the room when they were trying to go to sleep at night.

Then, suddenly, around week two, Ted started getting up off the couch in the middle of Star Trek episodes to go to the bedroom. He’d get home from work later than usual and hide behind his hair when Bill tried to ask what took him so long.

The most glaring issue, though, is that Ted’s been listening to some tape in his walkman for a full week now, and Bill has no idea what it is. Sometimes when he gets home, Ted looks up and waves at him from the couch, but he’ll stop the tape and take off his headphones and not offer to share.

Whenever they listen to music, they basically always do it together. They decide what record to put on if they’re just laying around at home. Whoever isn’t driving gets to pick the cassette that’s playing in the van. If they’re out somewhere, they tend to lean in close and share headphones on the other’s walkman or just put their heads together right by the display headphones in the music store.

A couple of times, Bill’s tried to ask him about it.

“Whatcha listening to, dude?” he’d throw out, casually, like it didn’t matter at all.

Ted would just shrug, and grin, but in the way that Bill knew something was wrong. “Nothing, dude. Just an old mixtape.”

After that, now Bill hasn’t even seen Ted’s walkman, but he knows that Ted’s still got it somewhere, probably still listening to that stupid tape.

And Bill is - well, okay, he’s probably being weird about something totally stupid, but it’s really starting to bother him.

Bill comes up with a few different possible plans to get his hands on the tape. He could just find a way to swap it out when Ted leaves his walkman unattended, or maybe in the van if Ted was driving, but then Bill still has to find the time to listen to it. Instead, he settles on sneaking into Ted’s stuff one night and listening to the mixtape himself - because there must be something weird on it, if Ted’s hiding it. There has to be.

So finally, one night when they go to bed, Bill waits up, laying awake until he can hear Ted softly snoring on the other side of the room.

He looks over, just to double-check, and Ted’s turned facing him, his hair half in his face and half spread out over his pillow. His mouth’s hanging open a little, and his eyelashes are dark smudges under his eyes in the dim light of the room.

For a moment, Bill just lays there, watching him - watching his chest move as he breathes, and as he shifts slightly in his sleep and clutches at the sheets.

It’s weird, because he’s right there and just asleep, but for a minute Bill kind of - misses him. He wants to go over and wake Ted up and do something stupid to make him laugh or see if he wants to jam or just - anything to get his attention.

Bill shakes his head, trying to shake himself out of it, and quietly climbs out of bed. Ted’s a pretty deep sleeper, fortunately, as Bill knows from many a sleepover even before they started living together.

Ted’s basically always kept his walkman in his jacket - and even though he’s been hiding it lately, when Bill goes out into the living room and goes digging, that’s exactly where he finds it. He pumps his fist excitedly without thinking about it - then freezes when he realizes he might have made too much noise.

There’s still only sleepy snuffling in the other room, though, so he settles on the couch with the walkman in his hands.

When he pops it open, the cassette doesn’t have a track listing or anything - just some little doodles on the cover, mostly hearts.

It probably is a mixtape, then. At least Ted’s not hiding, like, a secret interest in Madonna or something.

Bill pops the tape back in on side A, places the headphones over his ears, and starts to listen.

It opens with REO Speedwagon - which while not a favorite of his or, he thought, of Ted’s, isn’t totally heinous or anything. It’s a little corny, and Bill snorts quietly, but he doesn’t totally get why Ted wouldn’t just play this in the van.

Bill starts to skip forward through the songs, and he knows most of them. There’s Van Halen, and Hendrix, and Queen - all pretty standard.

It’s only once he gets to the end of side A that he realizes every song on it is a love song.

He pops the tape back out again and really looks at the doodles - they’re still hearts, but now Bill realizes what they’re for. For a moment, he wonders if someone else made this and gave it to Ted, but even squinting in the dark he can recognize Ted’s left-handed scribbling doodle style. There’s still a little hand doing the sign of the devil on one corner, and it’s something Bill’s seen him draw in school notebooks a hundred times.

If Ted made this, though, it means he either made it about someone, or to give to someone else, and he didn’t tell Bill about it.

There haven’t been a lot of babes in either of their lives, admittedly. They had pretty bogus luck at school, but even then they’d always ducked their heads together and tried to figure out crushes together. With the princesses, they’d been most fortunate to find sisters who wanted to date both of them, and they knew it - but now that’s over with.

Is this about Liz? Or is there some babe working at Pretzels n’ Cheese that Bill has just failed to notice? Or maybe she only works shifts with Ted, and Bill wouldn’t know because the managers stopped letting them work shifts together ages ago.

For a moment, he stops, listens, and makes sure he can still hear Ted sleeping in the other room. Then Bill puts the tape back in, rewinds it, and actually listens to every song on side A, playing close attention to the lyrics.

As it turns out, that maybe wasn’t the best idea Bill’s ever had. The more he listens, the more he starts to feel - totally heinous.

Not a single one of the songs is about sex or just a passing crush on a babe - they’re all  _ love  _ songs. Like fully serious head over heels stuff, the kind of stuff that Bill had no idea Ted had ever felt, because if he has ever felt it, he’s never told Bill.

It’s heinous on multiple levels. If it’s the princesses, Bill doesn’t know why Ted wouldn’t tell him about it, because maybe they could try really hard to get them back. If it’s not the princesses, though - that’s way worse, because Bill has no idea who it would be. That either means Ted’s been hiding it for a really long time or it’s just someone Bill doesn’t even know, and either idea is most unusual and most upsetting.

He could listen to side B, but he’s starting to feel so bogus that the exhaustion of the day is really hitting him, and he doesn’t really want to know what else is on the tape anyways.

Carefully, he gets up and sneaks the walkman back into Ted’s jacket, and then goes back to bed.

He turns onto his side and looks at Ted again - but it just kind of makes his chest hurt. Instead, Bill turns to face the wall and tries way too hard to make himself fall asleep.

In the morning, he’s more tired and more disgruntled than usual, and he totally knows it.

Ted, if anything, seems to be feeling better than he has been recently. He makes breakfast and manages to not burn anything, and he’s humming something to himself as he taps his fingers on the stove and waits for the toast to finish.

Bill meanwhile, kind of has a headache and just sits at the table with his head in his hands, feeling heinous because he didn’t get enough sleep and because he can’t stop thinking about Ted’s stupid mixtape.

“Oh, dude, your tag’s out,” Ted says suddenly behind him, and then Ted’s fingers brush against the back of his neck, a soft, cool touch.

Lifting his head up, Bill turns around, and Ted just grins at him.

It’s impossible to stay mad when he shouldn’t even be mad. Bill smiles back at him, just a little, and brings his hands back down to the table. “Thanks, Ted.”

“No problem, dude.” Ted tells him, and then he brushes his hand against the back of Bill’s neck again as he walks back over to the other side of the table.

They eat breakfast together, but Bill doesn’t really have much to say, so he just tries to focus on the food and answer anything Ted asks him directly.

By the time he’s done, though, Ted’s looking at him.

“Bill, my friend - you are most atypically quiet this morning.”

Bill shakes his head a little, then shrugs. “I’m just tired, dude.”

Ted nods seriously. “I thought I heard you get up last night, you sounded most unsettled.” Tapping his fingers on the table, Ted stops suddenly and grins. “Dude! I know we were supposed to get groceries and stuff today, but I’m not working tomorrow either - what if I do all that stuff then, and today we just take it easy! We could go see a movie or something. You totally deserve the day off.”

The grin on Ted’s face is most contagious. He’s just in such a good mood, and Bill likes seeing him happy. “Okay. Sure, dude.”

“Excellent!” Ted says. He air guitars, and Bill joins him, and they both go and get ready to go to the movies.

Once they’re both dressed, they make sure to feed their fish before they head out, and then they’re on their way to the theater.

Neither of them really know what’s out at the moment, but they hardly ever pick anything to see before they go. There’s basically always a horror movie or an action movie they haven’t seen yet, and if it’s bad they can just have fun making jokes together instead of actually watching the movie. As long as both of them are there, they usually have fun either way.

His good mood is kind of short-lived, though, because as soon as they get in the car and Bill puts in a cassette, he starts thinking about the mixtape again.

He knows he shouldn’t have listened to it, because he knows he can’t just tell Ted he snuck around like that, it’s totally bogus. It doesn’t keep him from thinking about it, though, or worrying about it, or keep it from being totally distracting while they’re listening to other music.

When they make it to the theater, for once, Bill is honestly grateful for the break from the music in the van.

They get tickets to the next showing of the new Lethal Weapon movie, and then get slushies and a box of Skittles from the concessions stand. The movie’s cool enough that they don’t just spend the whole time cracking jokes, but there’s still something comfortable and familiar about the two of them passing the box back and forth, and Ted sometimes just slipping Bill a handful of candy so they don’t shake the box and make too much noise.

Out in the parking lot again, back in the sun, Ted’s mouth is stained red as he laughs and gestures, going back over all the best parts. “Dude - and when that whole building exploded? You think, like - I wonder how much it costs to blow up a whole building cause it would make an excellent backdrop for a music video. Especially like, during a really excellent guitar solo.”

Ted launches into an air guitar solo, and Bill laughs, making Ted stop just to turn to him and smile.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, dude,” Ted tells him as they make it back and climb into the van. “I was most concerned this morning - but now you seem fine!”

As much as the thought should be comforting, Ted’s words and once glance at the tape player in the van bring Bill back to the same thoughts the movie had so successfully helped him avoid.

If he can’t just come out and ask about the mix tape - still, maybe he can at least figure out who it’s about if he asks carefully. He glances over at Ted and then back down at his lap, picking at a hole in the knee of his shorts. “Do you miss the princesses, dude?” he asks finally.

Ted raises his eyebrows and turns to face Bill, clearly surprised. “Dude. Is that what that was all about?”

“What - I asked you, dude.”

Still frowning, Ted shakes his head. “Not really. They’re still our friends, we see them all the time. They seem much more well-adjusted without us, Bill. But - if you do, it makes sense-”

“I don’t,” Bill tells him, cutting him off.

“Then what’s the problem, dude?”

There’s a lot of things Ted may not get, or that he struggles to pay attention to - but he always knows when Bill’s lying or not feeling well. They know each other way too well. So instead of trying to keep being subtle, Bill just blurts it out. “I listened to your mixtape, dude.”

Ted startles enough that his hair flies up around his face, and he shakes his head again, trying to hide behind his bangs. “What? Uh - what mixtape?”

“The one in your walkman!”

Ted’s hands fall into his lap, and clutch at his jacket. “Why, dude?”

“Because you wouldn’t let me hear it, Ted! And I’m sorry, I know I like, shouldn’t have, but you never just don’t share your headphones, dude, and when I asked you about it you totally avoided the question and - it freaked me out.”

“Well - I didn’t mean to freak you out,” Ted says, but his voice is quiet, suddenly. “I just thought you probably wouldn’t want to hear it.”

“What, cause it’s all love songs?”

“Yeah,” Ted says. It’s practically a whisper, and Bill can see that he’s bright red where he’s hiding behind his hair.

It’s bogus that he’s feeling embarrassed, because that’s totally not what Bill meant to have happen - but it doesn’t change the fact that Bill’s still upset, too. “I don’t care that it’s all love songs, dude, I just don’t get why you wouldn’t tell me.”

Quickly, Ted glances up, shaking his bangs out of his face. “What - really?”

“There’s a lot of good love songs, it’s not like it’s a bad mixtape or anything, I just - we always used to talk about this stuff. And if it’s not one of the princesses, do I even know her? Like, is there some babe from Pretzels n’ Cheese you’re totally pining over that you didn’t even tell me about?”

Ted blinks, his mouth falling open. “Huh?”

“You’ve never made a mixtape for a babe before, Ted. You would have told me, right? Or - had me listen to it or something. Or - we used to do stuff like that. I guess it’s fine if you don’t want to anymore, I just wish you’d told me, dude.”

“Dude, of course I’d tell you!”

Now Bill’s the one confused. “Then why didn’t you?” His frown deepens. “Dude, you can’t tell me that mixtape isn’t about someone specific. You wouldn’t even let me hear it, and you drew hearts all over it, and the lyrics are all - like they make sense together.”

“I-” Ted hesitates, and shakes his head again, and looks over at the windshield, avoiding Bill’s eyes. “I just didn’t want you to hear it cause I thought you’d figure it out.”

“Figure out - so I do know her?”

“I didn’t make it about a babe, dude,” Ted whispers. His shoulders are tense now, up by his ears, and Bill’s never seen him look so uncomfortable except maybe in front of Captain Logan or Colonel Oates.

It’s suddenly really obvious that Bill has most egregiously fucked up.

“Oh,” he says. “But it’s about - someone?”

Ted nods.

“So - it’s about a dude?”

Ted nods again, quickly. “Could we stop talking about it? Cause - I really don’t want you to figure it out right now.”

“Why?” Bill asks, more out of reflex than anything else.

“Cause I’m scared, dude.”

Bill can see now that Ted’s knuckles are white where he’s gripping his hoodie. It looks like his hands are shaking.

“Ted, dude, hey, I-” Bill’s own voice is hoarse and miserable. He reaches over, leaning across the space between the seats, and wraps his hand around Ted’s. “Dude, I can’t really - reach you well in the van, but - don’t be scared, dude, it’s fine.”

Ted shakes his head, just a little, and stays tense, and kind of frozen.

“Ted. C’mon,” Bill says, getting more desperate. He gets up from his seat and crouches beside Ted in the empty space between the seats. “I didn’t - I’m sorry, dude.”

When Ted still doesn’t respond, Bill just gets as close as he can and throws his arms around Ted’s shoulders, trying to hug him in spite of the awkward, cramped space.

Slowly, as Bill sits there with his knees aching, all the weird dirt and crumbs from the van floor sticking to his shins, his forehead pressed awkwardly against Ted’s bicep, he can feel Ted start to relax again.

He lifts his head, and he watches as Ted loosens his grip on the fabric of his hoodie, his hands regaining their normal color. After another moment or two, Ted’s arms wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer, up towards the driver’s seat, and it’s still uncomfortable, but Bill doesn’t mind so much anymore.

Ted’s head ducks down to press against his neck, and he sighs.

“Sorry. I thought maybe you’d freak out.”

“Dude,” Bill says softly. He turns his head and presses his face against Ted’s hair. It still smells like their shared shampoo, from Ted’s shower this morning. It’s soft, though, and Bill reaches up and pushes some of it behind Ted’s ear, just to get it out of both of their ways. “I’m not gonna freak out on you. No matter what, you’re like-” For some reason, in this moment, to call Ted his best friend seems inadequate, even though that’s always what they’ve both said. “You’re you. No matter what you like or who you like or any of that stuff. I’m with you no matter what, dude.”

Ted pulls back enough to smile at Bill - and it’s genuine, now. Bill smiles back at him, relieved.

“Do you want me to drive home, dude?” Bill asks.

At that, Ted looks around, suddenly seeming to realize they’re still in the parking lot at the theater. “Oh - dude. Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s no problem, dude, just swap with me.”

Ted stands up then - or crouches, really, as well as he can in the van, and he and Bill both shuffle around, bumping knees as they trade places and Bill slides into the driver’s seat. He waits for Ted to get settled in on the passenger side - and looks over to see him curled up in the seat, his knees pulled up to his chest.

“Still good, dude?” Bill asks.

“Just ready to be home,” Ted tells him, nodding.

“So let’s go home,” Bill says, smiling, and he’s relieved when Ted grins back at him.

The trouble is that the whole drive back to the apartment, Bill just keeps looking at Ted, and Ted’s looking back at him, and Bill still has no idea what dude Ted made his mixtape about. Honestly, if he really lets himself think about it, the idea that Ted made that mixtape about some dude from school or who works at Pretzels n’ Cheese is somehow even more bogus than if it had been about some babe Bill didn’t know - but that’s totally not cool of Bill.

It’s easy to remember the sinking feeling in his stomach when he’d seen Ted’s hands shaking. He never wants to make Ted feel like that ever again - and if that means making his own brain shut up about whatever dude Ted might have a crush on, that’s what he’ll have to do.

Basically, he spends the whole drive bracing himself.

When they make it back, Bill hops out of the van first, and when he makes it around to Ted’s side, Ted stumbles out of the van, and Bill reaches out to help steady him.

With Ted clearly worn out from their conversation earlier, Bill keeps a hand on his waist, just to sort of nudge him up the stairs and back to their place. When Bill moves to unlock the door, Ted just leans against his back, sleepy and loose-limbed.

Bill’s heart pounds in his chest. “C’mon, dude,” he says quietly, and he gently wraps an arm around Ted and nudges him inside, over towards the couch.

Ted flops down onto it face-first, and lays down so he’s basically taking up the whole thing.

Bill doesn’t really mind. He takes off his flannel just to throw it into the bedroom, then picks up Ted’s feet just so he can sit on the couch - but he pulls Ted’s legs into his lap, letting him take up as much space as he wants.

“Hey, Bill?” Ted says. He lifts his head up and squirms around until he can look back at Bill.

“Yeah, dude?”

“Thanks.”

Shrugging, Bill looks down and fidgets with the frayed cuff of Ted’s jeans. “I didn’t really do anything, dude. Especially - I should make it up to you anyways for listening to your tape without asking.” He lets his hand rest on Ted’s ankle and looks over at him to make eye contact. “Did you wanna talk about the dude you have a crush on? I’ll totally listen, I promise.”

Ted’s brow furrows, and then he blinks, and flushes. “You still didn’t figure it out, dude?”

Bill feels a little sting of annoyance at that, but he just looks back down, shaking his head. “Why would I know? I didn’t like - I mean I listened to some of the songs really closely, but that was when I still thought it was a babe. Besides, like, if it’s some dude from work we don’t work the same shifts anymore and I wouldn’t know who it is, right, so-”

As he sits up, Ted’s legs shift out of Bill’s lap, and Bill immediately misses the contact. “It’s not just some dude from work, Bill. I really just think maybe we should talk about it later, dude, let’s - watch TV or go take a nap or something-”

Ted stands up, heading for the bedroom, and Bill reaches up as he walks by and grabs his hand, tangling their fingers together. “Ted, dude, wait, just- wait? Please?”

This, of all things, gets Ted to really look down at him again. With Ted standing and him still sitting on the couch, he’s only eye level with Ted’s stomach - but it makes him want to lean forward and press his face there and wrap his arms around Ted’s waist.

He doesn’t, though.

Carefully, Ted reaches down and pushes Bill’s hat back off his head, fingers moving gently through his hair, just once. “Dude. What is it?”

It feels like there’s something stuck in Bill’s throat - like all his stupid, bogus feelings are totally choking him up, but he pushes through it. “I just keep thinking about - you not telling me about it and it’s most heinous, dude. I know you said you were scared but - now I’m kind of freaked out, too, okay?”

“Bill, dude,” Ted says quietly, and he sits back down. He reaches over, and puts his hands on Bill’s shoulders, and that’s all Bill needs to finally reach out and pull him into a hug, pressing his face against Ted’s chest, leaning into him gladly.

“You were acting most unusual, and you kept getting home late-”

“I didn’t really think about it, dude. I’m sorry. I was just nervous, I didn’t - I didn’t mean to make you worry, Bill.”

It’s in that moment that Bill finally notices the way he’s practically clutching at Ted’s shirt. He lets go and pulls back slowly, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Yeah just - Sorry. I didn’t mean to make it so - weird. Heavy. I don’t know, dude.”

“Like I didn’t get totally heavy on you in the van earlier,” Ted tells him.

Bill shrugs, looking down at the carpet. “I mean, that makes sense, dude. I’m just being-” He knows, there, what he would have said once.  _ Gay _ muttered under his breath like an insult. But the bigger problem is just that he’s feeling way too much, and he’s embarrassed about it - embarrassed that he can’t just be normal with Ted, and tease him about his crush and make fun of the REO Speedwagon song for being a little corny, especially as an opener.

Instead - Ted falling in love without him, doing this big major thing and keeping it all secret is making Bill feel most out of step and like nothing’s ever going to be the same. It’s totally non-non-non-non-heinous.

“Being what, dude?” Ted asks quietly.

Looking up, Bill meets his eyes. Ted doesn’t look mad at him or anything - just kind of sad. Bill shrugs. “I don’t know how to say it. I guess I just - when I thought it was about one of the princesses, you know, I thought I could try and help you get them back. But when it’s somebody else - especially a dude I don’t even know, I don’t know how to help, dude. And we just - we always used to do this stuff together.” Bill pauses, and swallows. “I don’t really know how to do it without you.”

“What if - what if you help me give him the mixtape?”

“What?”

Ted springs up, then goes over and digs in his jacket for his walkman. He pops out the tape, and heads back over to the couch, holding the tape with both of his hands, one on either side. “Just. Here.” Ted reaches over, handing Bill the tape, and Bill takes it, carefully.

“Do you know where he lives? Like should we - head back out?”

Reaching over, Ted presses the tape further into Bill’s hands and shakes his head. “We don’t have to go anywhere, dude.”

“What?”

Ducking his head, Ted presses the tape into Bill’s hands one last time and then lets go. “I made it for you, dude.”

“For - me?” Bill repeats, looking down at the cover. His eyes move over all the little doodled hearts - over the care that Ted took making sure nothing smudged too badly. His heart speeds up.

“Well - like, I was scared to give it to you but - I made it  _ about  _ you. It’s just songs that make me think of you, dude. And uh - you know. I liked listening to it. But I thought, like, the Bowie song for sure would give it away.”

Bill knows right away the song that Ted means. When he thought it was about someone else, it had been totally bogus -  _ When you rock and roll with me, no one else I’d rather be _ is a pretty heavy sentiment for either of them. Knowing now, though, that it was about him - Bill can feel himself flush, but he looks up quickly, checking Ted’s expression, but Ted’s still fidgeting with his bracelets and hiding behind his hair.

“I know it’s - parts of it are kind of lame, right?” Ted continues. “I really - if I was gonna give it to you maybe I could have put some better stuff on there, um, I can like - make you another one, or-"

“Ted, dude, it’s perfect,” Bill tells him.

Finally, Ted looks up. “Really?”

“I mean - okay, I didn’t get a chance to listen to the other side yet, cause thinking about you thinking all that stuff about somebody else was - non-non-heinous, but the first side is really good, dude. You - you really think all that stuff about me?”

“Of course, dude. You’re like - you’re my best friend,” Ted says, blushing.

The Queen song suddenly gives the phrase a new meaning. Bill looks down at the tape again, and then back up at Ted. “Dude,” he says quietly. “I love you.”

“Really?” Ted asks, and his voice breaks slightly.

Bill nods. “Yeah, dude. Really.”

“I love you, too, dude.” Ted’s voice is quiet, and his hair is still in his face, and his cheeks are all pink, and he’s biting his lip to stop himself from smiling too much - and Bill  _ loves _ him.

Scooting forward, Bill leans in and gently brushes Ted’s hair out of his face. Ted’s mouth drops open, and Bill glances down, drawn immediately to his lips where they’re still all pink from the candy and slushies at the movies. “I probably, like, owe you something for the excellent mixtape gift, right?” He’s trying to be at least a little bit smooth about going in for the first kiss - but he’s not totally sure that it’s working.

Ted just nods, and Bill smiles a little, not totally convinced that Ted heard what he said - but in the moment it doesn’t really matter.

Bill nudges in closer and presses his lips to Ted’s, just a soft little press of lips. He pulls back, and licks his lips - and finds that they’re a little bit sweet. He laughs, and bumps his nose against Ted’s. “Dude, you totally taste like Skittles.”

“Really?” Ted asks. Bill can’t see his face really well, but he can feel Ted’s eyelashes fluttering against his cheek, and hear the smile in his voice.

This time Ted moves in first, and he quickly swipes his tongue over Bill’s lips before pulling back to laugh. “Dude, so do you.”

They laugh together, and Bill moves his hand to the back of Ted’s neck and pulls him in again for another kiss. Their lips press, and part, and then they both linger, licking into each other’s mouths and still giggling a little.

Soon, Ted’s hand is creeping up the back of Bill’s shirt, and Bill shivers a little at the touch against his bare skin.

“Are my hands too cold?” Ted asks, pulling back just enough to make eye contact.

Bill shakes his head. “No, dude, just - it’s nice.”

“Oh,” Ted says, grinning. He pushes Bill’s shirt up further and places both his hands against Bill’s waist, his fingers stretched out to span broadly over as much skin as possible.

Leaning close again, Bill kisses Ted’s mouth, then the corner of his lips, then his jaw - and then he pulls back again. “Dude, I just had a most excellent idea.”

“What is it, dude?”

“We should totally make out to your mixtape.”

“Really?” Ted asks, a flush spreading over his cheeks.

“Totally, dude!”

“Uh - okay, but then we gotta like - find it again.”

Bill realizes that Ted is right, and somewhere in their makeout session, the tape got dropped and probably fell in between the couch cushions or something. “Oh, bogus.”

They let go of each other then, Bill standing up to check under the pillows and blankets, and Ted ducking down to the floor to look under the couch itself. After just a few moments, he springs back up, tape in hand. “Got it!”

He’s grinning, still a little flustered, and his hair is a mess again. Bill wants to kiss him - and now he totally can. He goes over, pressing up on his tiptoes, and tugs Ted down by the back of his neck to press another kiss against his mouth, sucking at his lower lip briefly as he pulls back so he can get off his tiptoes.

“Excellent work, dude,” Bill tells him, and he plucks the tape from Ted’s hand. 

As he turns around to go put the tape in their stereo, though, Ted comes up behind him and wraps around him, head against his shoulder, arms around his waist, stumbling a little as Bill steps forward. “Dude, I just wanna touch you all the time,” Ted mumbles, pressing the words against the skin at the back of Bill’s neck. Ted kisses him there, then, right at his nape, then moves to the side of his neck, sucking gently at the skin, licking over it, seemingly trying not to leave any marks.

Bill gets the tape in, and hits play, and the sounds of REO Speedwagon fill their little apartment - and now in this context, maybe the song doesn’t seem too corny after all. “You can give me a hickey if you want, dude, it’s not like anybody’s gonna know who it was - or, anyways, I don’t really care if they do.”

When Bill turns around in Ted’s arms, he meets Ted’s wide-eyed gaze. “Really, dude?”

“Totally.”

Ted leans back down and presses his teeth against the skin of Bill’s neck, biting down before licking over the skin again, lingering in that same place and continually leaning back to check his progress. Bill just slides his hands into Ted’s hair, gripping tightly as his knees start to go a little weak, and listening to the song while Ted leaves a little line of mouth-shaped bruises on his skin.

“Dude, let’s go back to the couch,” Bill says finally, when he feels like his own legs won’t hold him much longer.

He tugs at Ted’s hair to make his point, though, and Ted whines a little, tilting his head to look at Bill with his eyes all dark, clearly obviously totally into it. Bill tugs again, just to see if Ted will make any other noises, and this time he moans a little, leaning down to muffle it against Bill’s lips, pulling him into another kiss.

Without looking, Bill tries to steer them back towards the couch, and he almost falls backwards when it hits the back of his knees. He pulls back to sit down, and Ted climbs easily into his lap - but he’s still way too tall for Bill to reach his mouth without Ted almost doubling over.

“Dude,” Bill whines, tugging on Ted’s collar.

Ted laughs a little, but rolls off and leans back against the arm of the couch, tugging to get Bill between his legs. “Come on, dude.”

“You’re too tall, dude,” Bill mumbles, but he can’t really stay pissed off when he turns and leans over Ted, who’s all laid out over the couch. His hair is spread out over the armrest, and his mouth is all red and swollen from their kisses, and he’s still grinning up at Bill.

Bill glances down further - down to where Ted’s shirt has ridden up, so Bill can see the soft skin of his stomach, and the line of hair leading down into his boxers. Bill brushes his hand over the front of Ted’s jeans, then further up, following Ted’s happy trail and pushing his shirt up as he goes.

When he looks up at Ted’s face again, Ted’s just watching him, mouth open and face flushed, clearly totally turned on. Bill finally lays down, half on top of Ted, and kisses him again, a damp press of open mouths. “Dude, how am I ever supposed to go back to work tomorrow when all I wanna do is make out with you?” Bill mumbles in between kisses.

Ted laughs, and Bill can feel where his nose scrunches up a little as he does. “Guess we’ll just have to do as much of it as possible while we’re both home, dude.” He pushes his hands under Bill’s shirt again, and his thumbs shift back and forth restlessly against Bill’s skin.

“Good idea, Ted,” Bill mutters, and he nudges his forehead against Ted’s as he nods.

They stay like that for a while, just trading long, slow kisses on the couch while the mixtape plays in the background.

Eventually, the music stops, and Bill knows that one of them should get up to flip the tape to the other side.

Bill pulls back, though, and Ted tugs at his shirt. “Dude, wait.”

“I still never even heard side B, dude,” Bill reminds him.

Ted hums, like he heard Bill, but he just wraps his arms around Bill’s shoulders to tug him back down. “You can listen to it later. Or like - tomorrow before work, you can borrow my walkman so you have something to look forward to.”

It’s a sweet gesture - and totally Ted. Bill just shrugs, and snuggles in against Ted’s chest, relaxing into the way Ted’s holding him. “Thanks, dude.” Something about being there curled up on the couch is making Bill relax in a way he feels like he hasn’t in weeks. He exhales, slowly, and gently runs his fingers up and down Ted’s sides. “I really missed you while you were being all nervous, dude. It was like you were here but you weren’t, you know?”

Ted places one hand on the back of Bill’s head, and twists his fingers gently through Bill’s curls. “I missed you, too, dude. I just - psyched myself out. Like I thought you were gonna freak out but - in a bad way, you know? I don’t know why. You wouldn’t do that, I just - I guess it’s just stuff my dad used to say.”

Bill tenses up at that, but he just presses up onto his hands so he can get a look at Ted’s face. Ted doesn’t look that worried, really - but Bill leans down and kisses him anyways, determined to chase away any lingering bad thoughts. “Well now you don’t have to worry about it. It’s an excellent mixtape, and you’re like - you know. I love you. So your dad can fuck off.”

Giggling, Ted grabs the back of Bill’s neck and kisses him again - and again, even sweeter and softer. “I love you, too, dude.”

Bill presses his forehead against Ted’s, planning to just go back to making out - but that’s when Ted’s stomach growls loudly, most rudely interrupting them. It makes Bill laugh so hard he almost doubles over with his head pressed against Ted’s chest, and Ted is laughing, too, hard enough that Bill can feel it.

“I guess we gotta stop making out long enough we can eat dinner, huh?” Bill asks.

“Apparently so,” Ted agrees, grinning as he sits up. He stands, and stretches, and Bill watches as his shirt rides up a little.

When Ted reaches down to pull him up, Bill takes his hand, and they stumble into each other a little, both a little clumsy and out of it from laying down on the couch for so long. Bill leans up just to press a kiss against Ted’s jaw, and then tangles their fingers together properly before they go into the kitchen. “To be continued?” he says, squeezing Ted’s hand with a smile.

“Most definitely to be continued,” Ted tells him, nodding eagerly. They kiss one more time, softly, but then Bill drags himself away enough to get them both into the kitchen.

He knows they didn’t actually get groceries today, so there’s not really much to cook with, so they’ll probably just end up ordering takeout - but that’s faster anyways, and Bill is most definitely looking forward to after dinner. For now, though, he just keeps Ted’s hand in his while they both go digging around for their favorite takeout menus so they can figure out what to pick from, and he’s happy with that.

Especially thinking about how just this morning he was sitting at the table feeling totally bogus and like Ted might never really pay attention to him again - now he can see Ted still sneaking glances at him out of the corner of his eye, and he knows they’ll both probably keep getting distracted all night long.

In fact, he has a pretty good feeling he can totally get away with pushing Ted up against the fridge to kiss him some more just as soon as they’ve actually ordered the food - and he can’t imagine a better way to waste time while they wait for the delivery dude.

After that, he’s not really sure what’ll happen - but he feels like now he can pretty safely stop worrying about it.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! if you enjoyed it, and i hope you did, feel free to let me know either here or on twitter where you can find me @eddykaspbraks!
> 
> again, if you're too curious about ted's playlist you can find it [here!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3pLSxqusvfsqvMlXgVn1pB?si=XDflGcRARs6Re1AD9QEMdQ)
> 
> i realized as i got to the end of this fic that like. theoretically i could write a "side b" part where they uhhhhh make out some more and also get up to Shenanigans and maybe it's from ted's perspective so we get some of that good good pining backstory so if you want that let me know! either way i'll be back with other bill and ted fic soon, i'm sure, because i totally still have other fics in the works, too.


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